Penn-Lyon Orientation Day One

Oy vey.

After a good night's sleep, I woke up early for my ten o'clock rendez-vous at Lyon with the other Penn kids in my program. And yet, I still managed to leave later than I wanted to from the apartment. Quel suprise. I did manage to finish The Help. What a superb novel by Kathryn Stockett. It's really astounding (and disgusting) that only 50 years ago it was okay and acceptable to completely disregard the humanity of a person because of their race. For people who claimed to be Christians, they seemed to have forgotten the adage "Treat others as you want to be treated." That's something I will probably never understand.

We all met at the University, which is only 15 minutes from my host house, and finally got to met each other. All of us were weary from travel but were fortunate to get real sleep at our host houses. Barbara, our coordinator, led us all up-stairs to a classroom where we spent the majority of the day, learning about the school, classes, the two-week intensive language course for all exchange students (I have a test on Monday! #dying), course selections, and other things like that. Basically, all the stuff I tune out and wait for my friends to explain (Kyra, where are you?!). Barbara says it's not as confusing as it sounds.

We sat outside in a small courtyard for lunch, where we got to hang out and get to know each other more. I had a tuna sandwich. I always forget that tuna is not always made the way my mom makes it. There was too much mayo (I am so not a mayo person) and hard boiled eggs (blech). But I tried it! There were chips, cookies, and apples, so my pickiness didn't make me go hungry.

We met again after lunch, but everyone was falling asleep and zoning out. At the end of the day, we walked down the quai to grab some drinks. I had jus de pomme (apple juice, which is pronounced "ju" without an "s." The waiter teased me about that) with some other Penn students.

Victoria, Meg, and Shiro

Le Rhône river is gorgeous! The water is so blue and it smells like the sea. I felt so happy being by the water. It was nothing like the Schuylkill.

Les canards (ducks!)

Meg snapping pics for her blog meginlyon.wordpress.com

Hey Mom, don't we have these at home?

We ended our time together by getting the necessities: phones that work in France. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I had to be a real adult and make financial decisions on my own. That was weird. But I got this bad boy. Kickin' it old school.

Old school flip phone with no side volume buttons. Word.

It was just Rabiâa and me for dinner, but that was really nice. I felt a little silly at times, completely blanking on words and such, but I really got to talk and discuss my interests. We talked about history, The Help, prisons (more on that later!), and what family means and what being a person means.

Segue!

After reading The Help, I realized I should only read things in French while abroad. I get too comfortable in English. I downloaded some French books to my Kindle fo' free! Thank you Public Domain. I got 

• Les fleurs du mal by Claude Baudelaire
• Les trois mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas
• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
• Nana by Émile Zola

And a snuck in Shakespeare's sonnets becuase I couldn't help myself.

Best wishes!